


The Scientific Method Job

by Actually_Crowley



Series: Where the Law Leaves Off [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Leverage, Alternate Universe - Thieves, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-06 06:54:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15880836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actually_Crowley/pseuds/Actually_Crowley
Summary: Years after his quiet retreat from the public eye following the death of his daughter, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb is approached by an old friend to help him reacquire some stolen research.  Forced to make nice with career criminals, Hermann must use some less than savoury skills he swore he'd never use again to achieve the goal.When the plan goes south, Hermann must decide how deep into the life of a criminal he's willing to go to set things right.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Leverage-based thief AU starring the cast of Pacific Rim! Some characters' histories (as well as canonical deaths) are blatantly ignored or heavily tweaked to work with the plot. This will be the first story of a series, with Newmann and several other ships as end game, but it will be quite a while before we actually get to it. Sorry. D:
> 
> This is a bit of a stress relief for me, so it's updates will be scattered and who knows how frequent, but I'm gonna try. Boy howdy am I gonna try.

The cafe was cold. The wind outside blew and brought with it the chill of fall, but the blasted stores still kept their air going. At least the cafe served warming tea and coffee; Hermann had been trying to appreciate small things.

Dr. Hermann Gottlieb sat in the farthest corner of the cafe from the door, back to the wall and cold, stony expression locked on his laptop screen. Lines upon lines of code spilled onto the screen as his deft fingers typed away. It felt empty, working alone on commissioned projects he never saw to their fruition, but it paid well, and he was permitted to remain anonymous. He didn’t want recognition anymore. He didn’t want the inevitable questions, or the sympathetic, pitying stares of strangers who knew his business. It was why he’d moved away from the home of his prestigious teaching position in the first place.

The chill didn’t bother him anymore. It couldn’t reach his already hardened heart anyway.

Most days he worked in the cafe, he was left alone. His tweed jackets, high-buttoned collars, and his general air of leave-me-alone kept him by himself, how he liked it. So when he heard the empty chair across from him scrape back against the floor, he snapped his gaze up from his work, ready to be offended.

“Dr. Gottlieb?” Asked the man, who’d sat himself in front of him without so much as asking. He had messy brown hair to his ears and a blazer over a pristine, light blue button down.

Hermann knew him. “… _Harold?_ ”

The man’s worried face split into a smile. “God I’m so glad you remember me.” His name was Harold Eichner. Hermann had worked with him for a time while he’d taught at Princeton University. He remembered Harold had been a graduate student then.

“Goodness, it’s been years. How are you, Mr. Eichner? Or- I suppose it’s ‘Dr. Eichner’ now, isn’t it?” Hermann offered him a smile. It was forced, but all of them were these days.

Dr. Eichner ducked his head. “Uh, it’s just Harold to you, Dr. Gottlieb.”

Hermann nodded. “Then allow me to extend to you the same courtesy. You may call me Hermann. I’m hardly your superior now.”

Harold shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know if I can do that. Not for… for what I’m here to ask you.”

Hermann’s false smile fell fast. “I do hope you’re not about to invite me back to teach. I’m afraid I can’t do it anymore-”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that, it’s-…” Harold looked down. “Hermann… After you left, everybody felt it. Nobody wanted to talk about it, but we all knew why.”

Hermann’s expression had gone dark. He saved his work and closed his laptop. “Dr. Eichner, it’s good to see you again, but I’m afraid I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Hermann packed his laptop away, and Harold floundered. “D-…Dr. Gottlieb, wait.” He stood up as if to stop him, but Hermann marched around him quickly.

Hermann walked out of the cafe and hobbled down the street. He heard Harold calling after him, but he tried his best to ignore it.

“Hermann please! I heard about your divorce after you left and I did my homework-…” Harold, despite both legs being healthy, had trouble catching up with Hermann. “I know what that insurance company did to you and your family-”

“I am not talking about this. Good day.” Hermann stood on the street side to try hail a cab.

Harold stood right along side him. “Please, Hermann… I just know how hard it was for you back then. How you must have felt, when you lost your daughter-”

“That is _enough, Dr. Eichner!_ ” Hermann slammed the end of his cane into the ground, and he turned to the man he’d once regarded as a friend. “I left Princeton behind along with everything and everyone I knew so I wouldn’t have to be reminded of the worst day of my life. Now if you _excuse me,_ I’m going home.” He turned back to the street in time to hail another cab. One caught sight of him and drove up to rescue him from the situation.

Harold inhaled and straightened his spine. “I just know that Miller insurance did you wrong. And then you disappeared, and Miller insurance was wiped off the map.”

Hermann froze before he even got a foot into the cab. He stood up straighter and dared a warning stare at Harold.

Harold continued. “That was you, wasn’t it? Dr. Gottlieb?”

Hermann stared. “…Are you here to blackmail me, Dr. Eichner?”

“No, sir. I’m here to ask you for help.”

Hermann inhaled slowly. He gripped the bridge of his nose and reached into his pocket, pulling out a twenty and leaning in, handing it to the driver. “Sorry to waste your time.”

“Not a problem, man.”

Hermann shut the door and allowed the driver to leave. He turned back to Harold and narrowed his eyes. “Very well. I will hear you out.”

~

They met back in the cafe, and Hermann had ordered another beverage to keep from being a freeloader. The workers in this cafe knew him and would likely have no issue with him lounging without a purchase, but he was never one to take advantage of people.

He placed himself back at his usual table in the corner and regarded Harold with a cold face, but one that was willing to listen.

Harold set a folder on the table. “I have been working on an extensive research project for about a year to present to a research group from Stanford. Myself and my assistant have found a way to establish a link between the human mind and machinery so efficient that the response of the machines to synapses firing is nearly as immediate as our own muscle fibers.”

Hermann’s brows drew together in confusion. “That… That is an astounding achievement, Dr. Eichner, but I still have no plans to rejoin academia.”

“I’m not asking you to. My assistant and I can handle the presentation.” Harold twisted a napkin nervously in his hands. “…My research has been stolen, Dr. Gottlieb.”

Hermann leaned back in his chair. “That’s horrible. Have you involved the authorities?”

Harold winced at the words he seems to have heard several times already. “I’ve tried, but whoever took my research wiped any trace of my notes completely off of my systems; I have no proof.”

Hermann scoffed. “Well nothing is ever completely wiped from a computer, I could easily find you the proof you need.” Maybe what Harold was asking for would be easier than he thought.

“You could also just as easily steal them back.” Harold’s voice was a harsh whisper.

Or perhaps it wouldn't be so easy. Hermann sighed like an irritated parent. “…Harold-”

“I know where they are! I know exactly who took them, and I can give you all the information you would need. Please,” Harold flipped open the folder and pushed it toward him.

Hermann gingerly took it in his thin hands and lifted the top page out; an article on Pacific National Laboratories. “Harold, this is a military science lab. They have security protocols and guards, and you expect me,” He gestured to his leg, “ _Me_ to just stroll in and walk back out with your research?”

“No, no, not you. No, I’m not unreasonable, I found you help already!” He shuffled some of the papers from the folder and pushed them closer to him. “Please, I need this research as soon as possible, I’m meant to present it to another facility in two weeks.”

Hermann gave a weighty sigh and lifted the papers out of the folder to inspect them. His eyes widened as he scanned his temporary crew’s files; He knew of these people. “…Raleigh Becket? _Trained hitman_ Raleigh Becket? Surely not-”

“I’ve already told him he’s only getting paid if he leaves people alive. I promise he’s going to be on his best behavior.” Harold had his hands clasped together, ready to beg if he needed to.

Hermann read over the file. “I have a friend in Interpol who dealt with him before. He’s still a criminal. You can’t trust him.”

“He’s a criminal, yes, but he always does what he’s paid to do.”

Hermann shook his head and flipped to the next file, and his eyes widened. “Now I can immediately tell you this isn’t going to work. You hired the _Newt_?”

Harold nodded. “He’s the best at what he does.”

“But the Newt is-” Hermann was aghast. The Newt he’d heard many a horror story about from his Interpol friend, and he knew that this man was _insane._ “Dr. Eichner, the Newt is a _madman,_ he rigged an elevator to collapse with himself and his spoils inside to get away from authorities! He absolutely cannot be trusted- What’s to stop him from making off with your project himself?”

Harold gave him a smile that said he’d been waiting for him to ask. “That’s where you come in.”

“... _Me?_ ”

“Yes,” Harold promised. “I’ve got a thief to handle the breaking in and sneaking around, and I’ve got some muscle to deal with any guards that crop up, and I’ve got you,” He pointed at Hermann, “To be my eye in the sky.”

“...Why _me_ though? Harold, what happened with Miller-…” He pressed his lips together tight. He still couldn’t talk about it. He looked down at the files again.

A hand reached across the table and laid on his arm, and Hermann lifted his eyes to meet Harold’s. “You want to help people, Dr. Gottlieb. I remembered that about you, it’s what you do, and it’s what you live for even if you don’t tell anybody. That’s why _you,_ Hermann.”

Hermann stared at him, searching for anything to allow him to back out; any reason to feel like this wasn’t a good idea. But he couldn’t find anything. Harold was at the end of his rope. He was desperate and lost. He was an old friend, and he needed help. Hermann couldn’t abandon him.

He wouldn't. “All right,” Hermann promised, "I'll do it."

~

He met Raleigh Becket and the Newt a block away from Pacific National Laboratories a couple of days later, at midnight. Raleigh Becket’s presence filled a space larger than it should have, even though he was simply standing there. He was a taller blond man with a face permanently locked with a hard expression. He wore a bomber jacket over a plain, dark sweatshirt and dark pants, paired with combat boots. There were scars on his body, but where they were light, they were also many. This was a man who had seen a lot.

Beside him was ‘The Newt’. The man was considerably shorter (and just smaller in general) than Raleigh, and he was wearing equally dark clothing, but it was all under a situationally inappropriate leather jacket. His hair was wild, potentially naturally, but Hermann didn’t doubt he was the type of person who spent hours in the mirror making it look like he’d spent no time on his appearance.

As he limped toward them, both men turned to regard him, Raleigh with no real emotion, but the Newt with an immediate, incredulous snort. “Holy shit, seriously?” He turned to Raleigh and nudged him in the side with his elbow. “Are we being punked right now, or what?”

“Don’t touch me.” Raleigh said, not even looking at the much shorter man.

The Newt gave him a look that was almost a pout. “Wow. Salty.”

Hermann stopped a few feet from them with a sigh. “Gentlemen.”

“Oh god, of course he’s English.” The Newt tilted his head. “Can I just ask you something?”

“I prefer it if you didn’t.” Hermann squinted at him.

“Well I’d prefer to work alone, so. Tough nuts for everyone. But like, are you actually _trying_ to be the biggest cliche to ever cliche? Do you drink tea, too?”

Hermann rolled his eyes. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” He sat down on a nearby park bench and opened a small satchel, pulling out a small laptop.

“ _That means yes,_ ” The Newt whispered to Raleigh. Raleigh sighed.

“You’re Hermann, right?” Raleigh asked. “Can we maybe hurry this up before I find a reason to make this guy bite a curb?”

Hermann sighed. “No one will be doing anything of the sort. You’re being paid not to kill anyone, and I am personally extending that clause to your teammates.” He pulled out a velvet box and flipped it open, holding out a tiny ear piece to each of them.

The Newt took his, but scoffed anyway. “Oh please, we’re not a team.”

Raleigh stared down at him, his gaze warning even though it seemed his expression didn’t change. “Does that mean you’re free game then?”

The Newt stared back defiantly. “I’m sorry, I’m having trouble taking you seriously with that floppy blonde mess on your head you call a hairstyle, Raleigh- What kind of a code name is ‘Raleigh Becket’ anyway?”

“It’s not a code name, it’s just mine. What kind of a name is ‘The Newt’?”

“A cooler name then ‘Raleigh’. But just call me Newt. ‘The Newt’ is for the headlines.” He gave Raleigh a bright smile.

“ _Gentlemen!_ ” Hermann held the second comm out to Raleigh. “Please, can we focus. The sooner we finish this, the sooner none of us ever have to see each other again. Now the way I see it, either, _Newt,_ you keep pestering the highly trained killer until he snaps your neck. Or, we all behave ourselves long enough to retrieve the merchandise, and everybody gets paid.”

The Newt- or Newt, Hermann supposed- turned his distaste to him now. “Yeah sure. Great, I go in and steal the research, Raleigh beats up anybody that gets in our way, and you… _babysit_. Why are you even here, dude?”

Hermann arched a brow at him as he opened his laptop. “Have you heard of the Miller Insurance Agency?”

Newt blinked at him. “No.”

“Imagine that.” Hermann smiled at him and handed him another smaller satchel.

“What’s in here?”

“Necessary tools,” Hermann insisted. “Now, these comms will pick up even the slightest whisper if you need to keep quiet. And I _implore you_ , Newt- Please keep quiet. I’ll be guiding you through the building and keeping tabs on security. Do you have an entry?”

“‘Course I do. I was on this place all day. There’s a vent on the roof I can get through. Easy.” Newt shuffled off his leather jacket and tossed it over Hermann’s laptop.

Hermann made an indignant noise and threw the jacket to the side. He looked at Newt again. “Do you have an entry for the _both_ of you? You may be small enough to handle ventilation travel, but Mr. Becket may have some issue with that.”

Newt turned to Raleigh and looked him up and down. He snickered and shrugged. “That’s not really my problem, dude.” He secure the second satchel over his head and shoulder alongside his own pack and walked away. “Good luck, Raleigh!” He called back to him before he dipped into an alleyway.

Hermann sighed and looked at a nearby street post before tapping away at his computer to ready his software. “I apologise, Mr. Becket. If you give me time, I can find you a way in.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll find one.” Raleigh began pulling off his bomber jacket. “For the record. After we get paid?” He carefully set his jacket down next to Hermann. “I’m gonna fold that guy into a pretzel.”

“ _Uh, you know I can hear you, right, meat head?_ ”

Raleigh smirked, and Hermann found that single show of emotion to be more terrifying than his stoic face. “I know.” He lifted his eyes to Hermann again and gestured to his coat. “Keep an eye on that.”

“Unless your jacket is going to grow legs and walk away, I think it’s safe.” Hermann gave him his patented false smile. “Go on then. I’ll let you know when the camera’s are clear.”

Raleigh nodded and walked away.

Hermann deflated with a deep sigh. This was going to be a long, _long_ night.

~

Newt snuck his way around to the back of the building with practiced ease. The facade of the facility was slatted concrete from about six feet from the ground and up, and it wrapped all the way around, even to the back. Newt hummed to himself as he hopped onto a dumpster against the wall and rubbed his hands together. “Thank god for weird building aesthetics.” He cracked his knuckles, slid his fingers between the wide slats and began to climb. It was only four stories, and he’s had to scale worse.

He reached the top in minutes, rubbing his hands as soon as he swung his legs over the rooftop wall. There wasn’t a lick of security up there. To the security company’s credit, there were not enough tall buildings nearby to make getting on the roof any measure of easy, and most thieves wouldn’t go through the trouble- or the risk- of climbing so high.

Good thing for this Eichner guy, Newt’s not most thieves. He continued humming to himself as he set up a rope rig and latched it to the nearest pole, unscrewing the vent bolts and removing the cover.

“ _Newt, you should be able to find the wire to the camera feeds on the second floor. The blueprints I have show a utility room on the south side, and I believe the door is a blind spot._ ” Hermann’s voice spilled into his ear.

Newt used his rig to descend into the vent and grinned. “Ooh, I like blind spots. If you were gonna start talking dirty to me, why’d you give an earpiece to the muscle?”

He heard Hermann make a choked noise, and it caused his grin to widen. “ _Honestly, Newt, could you please take this seriously!?_ ”

“ _I don’t think he’s capable of serious thought._ ” Came Raleigh’s reply.

Newt rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, talk to me about that when you actually gain the capacity for a sense of humour.”

He planted his feet when he reached the proper ventilation shafts and detached himself from his ropes. He ducked into one of the paths and crawled.

Beneath him, as he passed over grates that lead to the floor below, he could barely make out numbers outside the doors. But the sign for the utility room was clearly labeled. He waiting for a few moments. He listened. Not a footstep. Not a breath. Nobody was out there. Newt smirked and lifted the grate up and into the shaft. He poked his head out first, checking the ceiling for the cameras. Sure enough, the paths they swiveled upon never reached that center point in the hall.

Newt slowly climbed down. His feet planted nigh silently on the linoleum floor as he leaned against the door. He dipped a hand into his pocket, pulling out a lock pick and began working. He was through the door in seconds. He kissed the pick before tucking it safely away and dipped into the room, shutting the door behind him. He approached a bit of paneling in the wall and unlatched it, pulling it open and revealing a considerable tangle of wires. They were conveniently labeled for the staff who needed to know that information, but Newt could only laugh at the irony. “I’m in.”

“ _Good,_ ” Hermann hummed, unimpressed in his ear. “ _In the bag I gave you, there is a small, black box about two inches wide and three long. Clip that onto the feed wire for me._ ”

Newt unzipped the satchel and found the device. He gave it a once over. “You gonna loop the feeds?”

“ _Yes. Do you require a play-by-play of my every move?_ ” Hermann asked with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Newt shrugged and clipped the box in place. “Well I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you, so yeah.” He shut the panel.

“ _You gonna tell us all of your moves too?_ ” Asked Raleigh.

Newt laughed again as he stood and waited by the door. “Absolutely the fuck not. But I’m just untrustworthy. I’m funny that way.”

“ _So what I’m getting from this is that you shouldn’t be here, and you’re a threat to the mission,_ ” Raleigh warned.

“Uh, no, because I’m apparently the only one actually doing anything.” Newt pulled his lock pick out to fiddle with it. “About that, by the way, are you even in the building, dude?”

He heard Hermann sigh before Raleigh could even respond. “ _You’re an incessant child, Newt. Go, the hall is clear and the guards are blind._ ”

Newt opened the door. He peered down the long hall in both directions and found it blissfully empty. With a hum, he slipped back out into the hall, shut the door, and looked up at the ventilation again. “You know, the more I think about it, the more I feel like I coulda done this by myself. Teams slow me down.”

“ _That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t apply here._ ” Hermann nagged in his ear.

“Says you.” Newt hopped up to grab the inner ledge of the ventilation shaft and climbed back in.

There was another sigh, and Hermann spoke again. “ _Get to the third bloody floor, will you? What we need is in lab eight. If you would check your phone, I’ve given you a map directing you there._ ”

Newt settled the vent back down in place and creased his brow in confusion. “My phone? I didn’t give you the number.”

“ _You did not._ ” Hermann sounded, of all things, _amused_.

Newt ignored his lizard brain that told him that sudden teasing shift in attitude was _hot as hell_ and opted instead to be annoyed as he pulled his phone out and found a map clearly labeled within his files. “Dude, when the hell did you-”

“ _Somewhere around you calling me your babysitter I think._ ” There was a pause. “ _Do you know where to go?_ ”

“Yeah, yeah, I see it. Jeez.”

All right. So maybe this guy was more interesting than he thought.

Newt scaled his way back up the ventilation shaft to the upper floor and made his way along the ceiling. He followed the map Hermann had apparently dropped on his phone by being near him (holy shit hot) and lifted the vent just above where he needed to be. “Guard check.”

“ _None on this floor yet._ ”

“Awesome.” Newt removed the grate and dropped down into the hallway. The labs around him were double glass walled and he could see through to the systems waiting for him inside. His eyes were bright as he peered within and saw mechanisms and chemical samples waiting for him inside. He pressed himself against the glass. “I think I’m in heaven.”

“ _Newt, please. Lab eight._ ”

“Tch… spoil sport.” Newt turned away and headed for the proper lab.

Lab eight, like all of the other labs he saw, was well within the confines of the two walls of glass. There were two doors he’d have to go through to get inside, and a key card lock outside the first door. Newt scowled at it. How would he get by that? He peered further in and saw a ventilation panel above the centre of the room.

“ _I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not going to work._ ”

“There’s a vent right to it though-”

“ _Yes. Right to an incinerator through a completely separate ventilation system to prevent dust and air contamination._ ” Hermann said. “ _If you would please, remove the second device from the bag I gave you, and insert the card into the lock mechanism._ ”

Newt removed yet another square device from the bag, and sure enough, it was attached to a card with a strip of wires. “Well you’ve just thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“ _I have worked in many labs._ ”

“That’s hot.” Newt said before he could stop himself. And he didn’t bother taking it back. The more uncomfortable Hermann felt, the funnier the sputtering on the other line was.

Which is what he was doing now. “ _You-! Do keep your- your insolent, inappropriate comments to yourself!_ ”

Newt snickered. “I can’t believe you actually say ‘insolent’. Like what are you even? You sound like a James Bond villain.”

Before either of them could comment, the lock the machine was attached to beeped in approval, and the door slid open with a hiss. Newt stared at it for a second and looked down at the machine. “…Holy shit. I mean I could have rewired it, but-” He caught himself. He didn’t want to fall into compliments just yet.

“ _Are you going to go in or keep marveling?_ ”

Newt straightened up and pouted. “I’m not marveling. I’m trying to figure out how your machine works.” Newt took it out and walked into the first room. “How are you gonna get me through the second door, genius?”

“ _Shut the first door and activate decontamination._ ”

Newt’s head reeled. “S-Shut-… Shut the door? Like, _lock myself in_ shut the door?”

“ _It’s the only way to open the second door._ ”

Newt shook his head and took a shaky step out of the room. “Hell no. I don’t go anywhere I don’t have an easy exit. Can’t I just break the glass?”

Hermann sighed in his ear. “ _All you’ll succeed in doing by doing that is, first of all, breaking your arm, because this glass does not break easily, and secondly, should you breach the wall, setting off alarms. Just shut the door and go through the process._ ”

Newt’s head was swimming. The walls he wasn’t even within yet seemed to be closing in, and he squeezed his eyes shut. Still, he stiffened his stature and pursed his lips. “Okay… Okay. I can do this.” He took a slow breath and stepped inside.

In a soft, careful voice, Hermann spoke again when Newt hesitated to press the door button. “ _Newt… are you claustrophobic?_ ”

“No.” Newt nearly punched the door button. The door slid shut behind him, and he closed his eyes as the air shower hit. He kept them closed when it stopped and the second door opened in front of him.

There was silence from Hermann for a while before he spoke again. “ _Newt, I’m speaking only to you for a moment. That door is not locked. All you have to do to get out is hit that button again. I promise._ ”

Newt gave a short sigh and opened his eyes, peering down at the ground. “…Uh, thanks.” He stepped forward, and the second door slid shut behind him. He steadied his gaze on the computers before him and walked forward.

Two doors keeping him from safety. Thick, nigh unbreakable glass stood in his way, and even if a threat did arise, the only exit was through said threat. Newt forced his breathing to even out and fumbled through the bag for the hard drive. “Which-… Which computer?”

“ _It won’t matter. They are all interconnected within each room, so once I can access one, I can access them all._ ”

Newt nodded and kicked a chair over to the wall of computers, booting one up and waiting for the screen to turn on. When it did, it did so with a login screen. “Uh, Hermann? Speed bump.”

“ _Plug in the hard drive. I will do the rest. All you have to do it wait._ ”

Newt had many snarky comments that bubbled to top of the list of things he wanted to say, but they were all capped by the fear of the two impenetrable walls behind him. He did as he was instructed and watched the login screen stutter for a moment. The screen went black for about ten seconds before it gave way to the desktop screen. He watched the files and folders begin to open by themselves and assumed Hermann was the one behind the wheel. “Did you drop a remote access virus in there?”

“ _Very good, Newt. Perhaps there is more in that brain of yours than sarcasm after all._ ”

Newto snickered again, the comment putting him the barest hint of at ease. “Dude, you have no idea how much I’ve got in here.”

“ _I have an inkling._ ”

Newt watched as a loading bar filled one corner of the screen. In five minutes, they would have their loot, and he could leave. Newt checked a watch he had tucked under his sleeve. Five minutes wasn’t that long.

It didn’t feel like it until, after two, Hermann spoke again. “ _Newt, there are two guards incoming on your floor from the staircase-_ ”

“What!? What happened to keeping an eye on things!?” Newt stood from the chair.

“ _I am keeping an eye! I’m trying to give you warning so you won’t panic! Stay put and everything will be fine._ ”

Newt gave the camera an incredulous stare. “How the fuck is everything gonna be fine!? These lab walls are glass, I am a sitting duck in here! I’m getting out.”

“ _Newt, stay put! Trust your team, we have you!_ ”

“Oh what, are you gonna stroll in and beat them up with your cane? Fuck you, dude, I’m out. I didn’t sign up to be arrested.” Newt gathered his bag, leaving the hard drive connected to the computer and took a fast trek toward the door.

Before he got there, a flash light spilled into the room and flashed directly in his face. “ _Hey!_ How’d you get in here!?” Two guards focused before him as his vision adjusted to the light, and his chest felt like a vice on his lungs. Not again.

_Not again._

The guard lifted their weapons as they approached the door. “Call for back up. Get the cops on the horn, we’ve got an intruder.”

Newt trembled as his let his bag drop to the ground. He lifted his hands in the air and stoned his face in a scowl.

One guard backed up and spoke into a radio, but he winced as a whistling noise was all he received in response. The second guard kept his gun pointed in Newt’s direction as he ran his key card through the scanner.

Nothing happened. The first door didn’t open, and the card scanner buzzed at him in rejection. He glared at it. “What the hell?” He tried it again.

The guard with the radio walked back to his partner. “There’s something wrong with this radio, I gotta get somewhere with a phone.”

“Get someone up here with an ID too, mine’s not working.”

“On it.” The radio guard walked toward the bend in the hall-

And was yanked out of sight with a yelp. Newt stared after him in confusion. The guard with the gun turned in that direction. “Mick!?” He hurried after him, gun drawn.

From Newt’s position, he couldn’t see what was happening, but he could hear the guard shouting and emitting grunts of pain. Before he could readjust, the second guard was suddenly thrown to the floor directly in front of the lab, unconscious.

Following him, calmly unloading the gun the man had been using, was Raleigh, tossing the disarmed weapon on the man’s body. Raleigh gave him a nod. “Looks like I made it in, huh?”

Newt stared at him and swallowed the gasp of relief that tried to escape. He was safe. He was okay. He huffed angrily and looking up at the ceiling. He should say thank you. “Took you fucking long enough.”

Close enough.

Hermann sighed. “ _Trust your team, Newt. It isn’t all on you._ ”

Newt sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. “…Whatever. The sooner I’m not on this team, the better.” He turned away and sat back down by the computer. God he hated this.

Raleigh gave the shortest, almost nonexistent chuckle Newt had ever heard. “We may be getting to him after all, Hermann. I think he just admitted we were a team.”

“ _It certainly sounded as such._ ” Hermann teased in his ear. Newt felt the smile on his face before he could stop it.

~

When the hard drives made it back to Hermann’s hands, he’d plugged them into his laptop. Newt and Raleigh stood over him expectantly but quietly, and Hermann was almost unnerved by the attention. “How long is this gonna take?” Asked Raleigh, hands firmly in his pockets and his bomber jacket back in place.

Hermann squinted at him. “It won’t take long. Don’t be impatient.” He bundled the files into an email and sent it off. With a relieved sigh, he shut his laptop and folded his hands over it. “It is done.”

Newt snorted as he was tugging his own leather jacket back on. “I swear to god someone’s feeding you badass movie villain lines, man.”

Hermann glared at him. “I am not a villain, Newt. I’m not a criminal. I’m helping a friend, and that is all.”

It was Raleigh’s turn to smirk. “Just keep telling yourself that, Hermann. You’re good at this.”

Hermann’s mouth grew tight, and he tucked his laptop away in his satchel. “It doesn’t matter that I’m good at it, it’s not what I am, and it’s not how I choose to live my life.” He took a harsh step, assisted by his cane, toward Newt and held out his hand. “My bag please.”

Newt pouted and looked down at the smaller satchel. “You sure I can’t borrow the card scanner?”

“‘Borrow’ implies that you intend to give it back, but I know you, Newt. I’ve seen your file. I’ll never see you again.” Hermann stared him down and did not lower his hand.

Newt grinned and placed the bag in his hand. “Fair enough. Kind of a shame though, we coulda had a good time.”

Hermann bristled. He yanked the bag away and glared at Newt with wide eyes. “I will not be having a good time with anyone let alone you. Good night, gentlemen. Your money should be wired to you in the morning.”

As he walked away, he heard the sound of the other men leaving as well. He peered over his shoulder and found them leaving in opposing directions, with Raleigh either deciding that killing Newt wasn’t worth it, or perhaps simply waiting to be paid. He sighed again, the relief still filling him that it was over.

He tried to pretend that the pounding in his chest was the left over of fear and not the vigor of adrenaline and excitement. He did not like this work. He didn’t.

And, for a friend or not, he would never do it again.

~


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you who've seen Leverage know exactly where this is going.

Hermann’s routine picked right back up where it left off. He strolled into his cafe and was greeted by name by the barista, who looked as though she’d already started his morning coffee. He’d likely stay long enough for tea, and she’d be the one to start that as well. He set the money (plus tip) for the coffee on the counter and limped to his seat. It was just another day.

He tried to pretend he wasn’t hoping another lost soul strolled through the door asking for his help.

He quietly thanked the barista when she made the walk to his table and handed him his coffee. He cracked open his laptop and took a deep breath, ready to delve back into his anonymous work.

He had barely finished his coffee when his phone hummed on the table. He sighed and lifted it to his ear. “Hello?”

“ _Dr. Gottlieb!_ ” Came the hushed, frantic response.

Hermann sat up straighter. “Harold?”

“ _Doctor, what the hell happened last night!?_ ”

“I-… Calm down, what do you mean?”

Harold made a distressed noise. “ _I tried to open the research files, and my entire system has been hacked! Everything you sent me was corrupted, I-_ ”

Hermann frowned. “Harold, that cannot be, I sent you the files myself.”

“ _Whatever you sent me, it was not my research. Hermann, what happened? Think! Please!_ ”

Hermann sighed and gripped his forehead. The only other person who had contact with the files was Newt. Could he have done something? “The Newt must have done something to the hard drives in transit to me. I warned you not to trust them, and especially not him.”

“ _I trusted you to keep watch!_ ”

“And I did! Dr. Eichner, I did everything in my power to ensure you got what you needed, to the letter, given the information you’d provided me in the file! If the Newt has the skill required to crack my hardware in the ten minutes it took for him to give it back to me, this was not in the information I had to work with!” He squeezed his eyes shut and took a breath to calm himself. “Dr. Eichner, where is your office? I can meet you there, we can discuss-”

“ _No. No, I’ll send you an address and meet you there. Just- Just hurry. Please._ ”

Before Hermann could say anything else, Harold hung up. Hermann sighed again and leaned his head in his hands.

When had Newt had time to mess with the files? He’d barely had them in his possession long enough to even drop a small virus into it. Was Newt that skilled? Part of Hermann didn’t doubt it. He had the barest hint of knowledge of Hermann’s capabilities, but he’d assumed Newt had dealt with hackers before; Newt’s rap sheet was prolific.

He seemed intelligent enough to know more than he was letting on. He’d even expressed interest in the workings of his machines. He should have seen this coming.

He heard a noise as a cardboard cup of tea was placed beside his elbow. His usual barista gave him a smile. “It sounded like you might need this to-go.”

Hermann offered her a smile. “Oh my dear, thank you. Let me pay you.” He reached into his pocket.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. On the house.” And she walked away.

Hermann kept smiling after her. He held on to the sliver of peace the interaction had allowed him and packed up his things and made his way back out.

May as well get this over with.

~

The address turned out to be a warehouse. Hermann stared at it as the cab that drove him there left him behind. All he could think was how badly he wanted to call another taxi and just go home. He could move again. It really didn’t matter where he was, all of his work was online anyway.

But he trudged on. His cane chipped away at the gravel beneath his feet as he walked through an unlocked door at the front of the building. Inside, the cavernous room was empty. Hermann felt his nerves seizing in his stomach. “Dr. Eichner?” He called. His own echo answered him. Hermann checked his watch. Perhaps he was early.

The click of a gun crackled like thunder behind his right ear. Hermann froze. “I gather… this isn’t Dr. Eichner, is it?”

“Nope.” It was Newt. He circled around to Hermann’s view.

Hermann huffed and leaned on his cane. “So I expect this is your way of dealing with loose ends?”

Newt tilted his head at him. “…The hell are you talking about?”

“You corrupted the files, you fool. Don’t play dumb, I’ve already been informed.” Hermann stood his ground.

Newt looked lost. “Um, what? How the fuck was I supposed to do that? I don’t know how your shit works, I just want my money.” He glared. “Is that why I didn’t get paid? You fucked with something?”

Hermann stared at him, and the tension in his shoulders left. “Why on earth would I mess with something? I was helping a friend!”

“Well somebody had to have done something, or I’d have money in my account, and we wouldn’t be doing this.” Newt steadied his aim. “The only guy who could have done something with it is you, so what else am I supposed to think?”

Hermann rolled his eyes, significantly less afraid now. “I think you’re reaching. I am not a criminal like you. I am an honest man!”

Newt glowered at Hermann. He kept his gun up and thought about it. “…You don’t think… the other guy-”

“‘The other guy’ what?” A voice carried from the other side of the warehouse.

Newt spun and pointed his gun in the direction of the voice, and Raleigh strolled up to them without a care to the gun in Newt’s hand. Hermann scoffed. “For heaven’s sake Newt, put the gun down.”

“No. No I don’t think so, because if neither of us did anything to the files, it was this asshole.” Newt kept his aim.

Raleigh arched a brow at him. “The only ones who touched the files were you two. I’m just here to find out why I didn’t get paid.”

Newt leaned toward Hermann. “Yeah, we’re not buying it.”

“Don’t lump me in with you.” Hermann shuffled away from him.

Raleigh eyed the gun. “Put that thing away before you hurt yourself.”

Newt did not obey. “Or maybe just you, huh? You threatened to fold me into a pretzel.”

“Yeah, but that’s because I kill people for a living,” Raleigh snickered. “You’re not gonna shoot me, you don’t even know how to hurt people.”

“Well I gotta start somewhere.” Newt raised the gun to level with Raleigh’s head. “So why don’t you just back up there big guy and-”

Raleigh smacked Newt’s wrist and twisted the gun easily out of Newt’s grip.

“- _Okay_ , all right, don’t hurt me, jeez!”

Hermann rolled his eyes again at the display, lamenting that he may very well pull a muscle in his eye by the time he’s done dealing with Newt. “I’m going to try and get a hold of Dr. Eichner,” He said, his voice coming out in words formed around a long, defeated sigh.

He walked away, toward the far side of the room and pulled his phone out as Raleigh and Newt continued to argue.

“You realise this wasn’t even loaded?” Raleigh took out the gun’s magazine.

“Obviously, I was expecting some muscle head like you to show up and make a show of force, which you obviously did, so haha, now you can’t shoot me with my own gun. Can I have it back please?” Newt held his hand out for it.

Raleigh snorted. “If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t use a gun.” He tossed the gun at him past his hand, and Newt fumbled for it in the air before he finally caught it.

Newt glared at him. “The magazine, dude! Come on!” He reached for it as Raleigh flipped it just out of his reach.

“Will you two be _quiet!?_ “ Hermann marched further away and dialed Harold’s phone. There had to be an explanation for this. Where was he? He limped further from the ruckus to the opposite side of the warehouse. The further he got from the noise, the closer he got to another noise. It was familiar; a humming, repetitive with a pattern. Hermann narrowed his eyes and followed it. It sounded like a phone.

He traced the noise to just behind a couple of crates in the corner. “What _is_ that…?” He mumbled, pulling the phone away from his ear to try and hear better. He rounded the boxes, and sure enough, he found the phone.

It sat, wired in, on top of a bomb. Displayed on the screen was his own number. Beneath the number was a timer. It read at sixteen seconds.

Fifteen.

 _Fourteen_.

“ _Get out!_ ” Hermann shouted as he spun from the bomb and hobbled away from it as fast as he could.

Newt and Raleigh turned to him. “What?” Newt managed.

“There is a bomb! _Go!_ ”

Newt’s eyes bugged as he turned heel and launched himself toward the door. Raleigh made to do the same, but turned back to Hermann as he limped toward them. “Hermann-”

“Just go, Mr. Becket!” Hermann waved after him, demanding that he leave. Raleigh huffed, but he hurried out.

Hermann mentally counted as he fast approached the door that Raleigh thankfully propped open on his way out. As the numbers ticked away, the door seemed further and further out of his reach. This was not what he’d wanted when he started the week trying to help a friend. If he could even call Dr. Eichner by such a title anymore.

But he only had three seconds to dwell on it.

Two, and he felt the burning pain in his leg try to outweigh his desperation to escape.

One, and he breached the door.

He wasn’t conscious long enough to get any further. The blast was cacophonous. His head spun, his leg hummed, and he was out before he hit the ground.

~

Hermann honestly wasn’t expecting to wake up. When he did, he found himself staring at a white, cracked, hospital ceiling. His chest seized. He moved to sit up with a gasp, but he was pulled back onto the bed by a handcuff around his wrist. He stared at that wrist like it offended him.

The next thing he noticed was that his leg felt like it was on fire. He took a deep, seething breath and laid his head back on the pillow, angling his hips slowly to try and take the pressure off his bad side.

The last thing he noticed was that he was alone. There was no sign of Raleigh or Newt anywhere. He gave a sigh that tried to be relieved. If they weren’t here, it must have meant they were safe. At least not everyone was caught in Dr. Eichner’s betrayal.

“You’re finally up,” Said a voice from the door. As Hermann lifted his head, he found a police officer standing in the door frame. Outside, he could see the shoulder of another officer waiting.

Hermann closed his eyes with a groan. “How long have I been out?”

“Half the day. Ya woke up once, but the nurses sedated you for the pain.”

Hermann glanced over and found that his blazer and parka were settled on a nearby chair. “If it’s been as long as you say, I’m overdue for a medication. Why am I shackled? I would like to go home.”

The officer snorted. “Well sir, if you hadn’t detonated a bomb, you would have gone home as soon as you were cleared by the hospital.” The man shrugged. “As it stands, we got some questions for you.”

Hermann lifted his head. “Detonated-… No, sir, there’s a misunderstanding-”

“And you can explain it at the station.” The man gestured to his cuffed hand, which Hermann now noticed was smudged black at his fingertips; His prints had been taken. “Soon as we get those back, and a check on your ID, we’re gonna have a long talk.” He tipped his hat. “Rest up. You’ll need it.” And with that, the officer left.

Hermann flopped back into the pillows with a grunt of effort. He reached down to massage his pained leg and resumed staring at the ceiling. He had been arrested. He had tried to help a friend, and he had been used. Something weighty landed on his already heavy heart, and it settled in his eyes, making them blank and cold. Just when he thought he could start feeling human again, someone broke past his wall and shattered his trust. His mouth trembled as he tried to force the anger and sorrow from his face.

He was roused from his downward spiral by voices. “ID please?” Asked the gruff officer.

“Oh sure, ‘course.” The second voice sounded familiar. Hermann lifted his head in time to see a man in scrubs and crocs pushing a wheelchair hand a badge to the officer.

It was Newt.

“We’ve just gotta get him into an MRI, make sure nothing’s rattling around in there.” Newt smiled at the man. “Pesky things, those concussive forces.”

The officer looked satisfied with the ID and handed it back, but he shook his head. “Well he’s not permitted to leave the room.”

Newt narrowed his eyes at him, and his attitude shifted immediately. “I’m sorry, are you an RN? Are you a doctor?” Hermann winced in response to Newt’s words. Everything Newt did, he took to eleven. Even with their fleeting alliance, Hermann felt like he knew him already. He was sneaky, but he was transparent. Newt continued, much to everyone’s dismay. “Because if you were either of those things, you’d know the majority of damage caused by an explosion doesn’t come from the fire or the heat it produces, but the shock wave, which has a nasty habit of turning people’s insides into soup.”

The officer held his hands up. “Listen, I’m just following protocol.”

“Your protocols won’t mean squat if this man has a seizure because we weren’t allowed to diagnose brain damage and get him necessary medication.” Newt crossed his arms and tapped his foot. “Can we scan the patient or not?”

The officer moved to say something, but the other officer next to him spoke instead. “Hey, I can go with him. Don’t worry about it.” The new officer stood up and walked into view.

Raleigh wore the uniform well. The real officer huffed. “You sure? You gotta get that call from the sheriff’s office.”

“Yeah, sure. You can take the call, my bosses’ll understand.” Raleigh gave him a startlingly gentle smile and a nod. “This probably won’t take that long with him anyway.”

The officer turned to Newt for some clarity, and Newt nodded. “An hour tops. I promise.”

The officer sighed. “Fine, fine. Don’t you lose sight of him, Jamison,” He said, gesturing to Raleigh. 'Jamison' must have been his cover.

Raleigh smirked at him. “I don’t think he’ll get far on that leg, Ron.”

Newt rolled the chair into the room. “Good afternoon, Hermann! Just gotta getcha out of bed and make sure everything’s functioning. My name’s William! You can call me Billy if you want, but if you turn out to be a felon, I rescind that offer.”

Hermann snorted at him. “I assure you, William, this is a misunderstanding, so that should not be the case,” He said, playing along. He couldn’t help but stare as Newt locked the chair in place. His arms were completely covered in tattoos. He hadn’t seen the ink previously due to Newt’s attire, but in the short sleeved scrubs, the artwork was on display. Newt was a walking museum.

Newt stepped back after setting the chair in a good spot to receive Hermann. “Speaking of standing; officer Jamison. You wanna unlock him? I’m sure if he tries anything I can take him.”

Raleigh shouldered past him a bit too harshly, and Newt bit down on the sarcastic comment Hermann knew he wanted to make, swallowing it with a grunt disguised as a laugh. Raleigh took the cuffs off of him and the bed and tucked them at his side.

Newt nodded and hipped Raleigh back out of the way. None of this quiet battle was noticed by the other officer. “All right, Hermann, arm up for me, let’s get you vertical.”

Hermann pushed the arm away. “I am not an invalid, sir, I can stand on my own.” He swung his legs over the edge and tried to stand, but the pain in his bad leg crumpled him before he could even unbend his knees.

Newt moved to the bad side and sat next to him. “Come on, Hermann, you don’t have to be so stubborn here, we don’t judge. We just help. Think of me as a trusted friend.” He gave him a smile. “Come on. Arm over my shoulder. I’ve got you.”

Hermann went pink and looked at the ground. “Friends tend to know things about each other, so I’d rather not…” He winced. He had to remember that the kind smile was a ruse, but he was also aware that the ruse was for him. They were here for him. He finally relented and threw his arm over Newt’s shoulders. “Forgive me. I’ve come to rely on my independence; I dislike when I’m not…” He hummed in frustration.

“...In control?” Newt offered.

Hermann nodded. “Yes.”

Newt beamed at him in a way that threatened mischief. “See? We’re learning stuff about each other already. Up we go!” He grunted as he stood Hermann carefully from the bed, letting him lean as heavily on him as he needed to. He stepped them toward the chair and lowered Hermann into it as Raleigh held it still. He didn’t let go until Hermann was settled. “You good?”

Hermann nodded. Newt finally moved away, and Hermann shivered as the cool hospital air replaced the warmth where Newt had held him.

“Oh man, if you’re cold now, I got some bad news about how you’re gonna feel once we get you in a gown. Here.” He picked his blazer and parka up from the chair and laid them over his lap. “We’ll have to keep you in the gown after the MRI, but you can bundle up in these after.”

Raleigh moved to his other side and handcuffed Hermann to the arm of the chair. He wandered over to the wall and plucked the cane from where it was leaning. “And I’ll keep a hold of this. You can’t try and run without it.” Hermann shot him a false glare at the same time the other officer sent him an approving nod.

Newt sighed. “All right, all right, you guys need to quit looking at this guy like he’s already got a twenty-year sentence. Let’s make sure he’ll live long enough to see a fair trial first.” He slipped behind the chair and pushed Hermann out the door. “Are you coming, five-O?”

Raleigh followed them closely. “Save me a coffee, Ron.”

“Will do, slick.”

Newt pushed him down the hall in silence until they rounded the corner. As soon as they did, Newt and Raleigh picked up speed, and Newt leaned closer to Hermann’s ear. “All seriousness though, how badly are you hurting? Like should we actually get you seen, or-”

“I assure you the pain I’m in is very real, but it is not caused by the explosion; It’s how I always am when I forgo my medication. I’m no worse than when we met yesterday.” Hermann paused and held his parka closer to his chest. “Thank you for coming back for me.”

Newt grinned at him. “Anytime.”

“I thought you usually worked alone,” Hermann mused.

“Oh I do. But ya know, not cool to leave you behind to take all the heat, right? Macho man and me got outta there, but cops were already on the place when we realised you got caught in the blast.”

Raleigh swung ahead and opened a supply closet, pulling out a duffel bag. He continued forward and beat them to the elevator.

As Newt wheeled him in, Hermann sighed. “Oh, but they have my ID… They have my name, my address-”

“Ah,” Raleigh unzipped the bag and dropped Hermann’s wallet in his lap. “Officer Ron Daley is more than happy to delegate rather than do.” He gave him a smile as well. “And 'rookie officer Jamison from the sheriff’s office’ is more than willing to follow the direction of such an experienced policeman.”

Hermann stared up at Raleigh. “…My prints were never faxed anywhere?”

“Nope. Officer Daley didn’t even look at your ID.”

Hermann laughed and shook his head, peering back down at his lap. “He delegated.”

Raleigh nodded. “He delegated.”

~

They went to Hermann’s apartment. A half hour after they arrived, and Hermann’s hastily swallowed pain medicine had begun to kick in, Newt spun away from Hermann’s printer. “All right, who wants Paris?”

Raleigh’s hand shot up from where he was seated in Hermann’s armchair. “Me.”

Newt made an indignant noise. “But-… But the Louvre.”

“Why’d you offer it up then?”

“Fair point. I’ll take Tokyo. Got room on my shoulder for another dragon.” Newt tucked the printout in his jacket pocket.

Hermann was laid out on his couch, squinting at the ceiling when Newt wandered to him and waved a printed plane ticket in his face. “Looks like that leaves you with Norway. Got you a ticket to Oslo, which yeah, I know, lots of people, but come on. It’s Norway. Happiest place on Earth. Scientifically.”

Hermann turned his gaze to Newt and arched a brow at him. “You’re both leaving?”

Raleigh sighed. “Look, you may be new to this, but we just got screwed by a guy who can point fingers when people start asking who was rooting around a military research base. Newt and I are career here, we get caught, we go away for good. As for you, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that number Eichner gave you set off that bomb. I also wouldn’t be surprised if pieces of that bomb have your prints all over them.”

Hermann closed his eyes as he worked out the facts. He heard Newt crouch down next to him. “We need to get far away from here, man,” Newt said. “It’s just how it works when you’re on the wrong side of the law.”

Hermann scoffed. “The _law_ …” He slowly sat up, lowering his bad leg tentatively to the floor. “The law stands in the way of justice nearly as often as is sees it through. Where is my cane?”

Newt frowned at him, but got up and retrieved the cane for him anyway. Hermann hummed a thank you and forced himself to stand. As he winced, Newt jerked towards him. “Whoa, whoa, you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Hermann limped over to his computer, in a wide arc to stretch out his leg, and by the time he found his swivel chair again, his leg was back to the dull hum of discomfort he was used to. He opened his programs and began typing away. “When you find yourself concerned with the law, you discover quickly that it is not, nor has it ever been, fair, regardless of the side you’re on. The _law_ is not going to do anything about what just occurred. If I tell a judge my story, I’ll be laughed straight into a jail cell, and all Eichner has to do to avoid jail time is deny it all. My word is hearsay. My ‘crew’ were career felons. No court will subpoena a search of Eichner’s equipment based on the word of the accused.”

Newt sat on the couch. “Yeah, we know. That’s why we’re booking it, dude.”

Raleigh leaned back in the chair. “What makes you think they'd even be looking into the theft?”

“Because we weren’t stealing his research _back_ for him, Mr. Becket. We were simply stealing it.”

Newt leaned forward on his knees. “You think he got the files.”

“I know he did, Newt.” Hermann paused his typing. “I sent them to him myself. If anything had been done to the files before they got to me, my system would have flagged it.  No, he received those files.  And in two weeks, he's going to present that research as his own at a Stanford conference.  And he sent us into that warehouse to make sure nobody would be around to deny that it belongs to him.”

Raleigh pondered the floor for a few seconds and stood up. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Mr. Becket, sit down!” Hermann turned to him before he made the door. “Killing Dr. Eichner is not going to fix anything!”

“What is there left to fix here, Hermann? All we have is maybe revenge.”

Hermann tilted his head at him and squinted. “Revenge is what you want? Truly?”

Newt shrugged. “I mean, I’d rather just get paid.”

Hermann turned to him. “And do you suppose you could achieve that with him being dead?”

Newt thought about it. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Raleigh. “You _torture_ him until he pays us, and _then_ you kill him.”

“No, Newt,” Hermann snapped.

“No, that’s a dumb idea, don’t do that.” Newt backpedaled immediately.

Raleigh crossed the room and stopped a few feet from Hermann. “So what do you propose then, Hermann? I guess with all this exposition, you got a better idea?”

Hermann let a smile creep onto his face. It felt mischievous and out of place on his face, but it also felt, against all odds, real. “As a matter of fact, I do.” He pulled open a drawer and lifted a phone from inside. “Raleigh, of you’d like to kill him and force us all around the world to avoid paying for his crimes, I’m not equipped to stop you. But if you want revenge, proper revenge, I suggest that you wait a bit longer. And trust me.”

Raleigh stared him down. He turned to Newt, who gave him a wide eyed shrug. Even Newt was curious about where this was going. Raleigh turned back to Hermann and steadied his glare on him. “Fine. I’ll trust you for now.”

Hermann nodded and dialed. “I hope you boys are fans of old friends.”

~

“Oh hell no. Absolutely not.” Newt was the first to vocally object.

Raleigh's eyes were wide and his stance was tight. “I thought you wanted us to trust you.”

Hermann turned to him. “I still do.”

The three of them stood outside of a lounge style, English pub with a wide window. From their position, Hermann could see that the friend he had called had already arrived, and it was clear Newt and Raleigh remembered him.

Seated at a large, circular table, far from the door, was his friend from Interpol- Stacker Pentecost. He sipped from a glass of scotch and scribbled answers into the crossword of a newspaper while a young woman beside him nursed a glass of wine and watched, leaning on occasion to point and whisper. Hermann knew her to be Stacker’s adoptive daughter, Mako Mori. Hermann felt warmer from seeing them, even out in the cold. “Come on then.”

Newt stiffened and kept his arms at his sides, but he followed anyway. “I’d like to state for the metaphorical record that I _completely_ hate this idea.”

“You have not yet heard it,” Hermann said.

As soon as he breached the door, Stacker’s gaze lifted from the crossword and locked on Hermann. His stoic face broke into a smile, and he stood to greet him as he approached the table. “Hermann. Good to see you again.” He held his hands out and patted Hermann’s shoulders. “You’re looking healthier.”

“Ah, the young lady at the coffee shop likes to sneak me baked goods. I haven’t the heart to deny her.” Hermann could feel himself beaming. He really should have kept in touch after Stacker and Mako helped him move. He turned to Mako and took the few steps toward her to take her hands in his. “Lovely to see you again, miss Mori.”

“You may call me Mako, Hermann.” She said, a happy crinkle in her eyes.

Stacker’s gaze shifted from Hermann to the men behind him, and his smile was gone. “…Interesting company you seem to have brought.”

Newt was frozen still. “…Do you feel like a piece of meat being dangled in a lion’s den, because I sure do,” He said in a hushed whisper to Raleigh.

Raleigh didn’t respond. “Pentecost.”

Stacker nodded. “Becket. Been a while.”

“2013, Milan.”

“Indeed.” Stacker turned his attention to Newt, who shriveled under his stare. “And Newt. The last I saw you, you were on a quick route to the bottom of an elevator shaft with a Dali. I see you made it out.”

Newt swallowed. “Uh, yep.”

“Did the Dali make it?”

Newt dared a smile. “Sure did. Got it on my wall.”

Stacker nodded. “And where is that wall exactly?”

“I plead the fifth, dude.”

Hermann sighed. “Stacker, I apologise. I know this is… unorthodox, but I’d like to discuss something with you, if you’ll have us.”

Stacker’s eyebrows rose. “‘Us’?”

“Regrettably.”

Raleigh hadn’t moved. “Hermann, I’m gonna stop you for a minute. How will involving Interpol help us exactly? This feels a bit like a conflict of interest.”

Before Hermann could respond, Stacker took a step forward. “No conflict here, Mr. Becket, you and the amphibian can relax. I am firmly retired.”

“Sure you are,” Newt managed through his poorly disguised nerves.

Hermann scowled at Newt, but Stacker continued. “It’s true. I’ve been out of the game for years now. If I had any want to see the two of you behind bars now, you’d be there.”

Hermann turned back to Stacker with an apologetic smile. “I don’t supposed you’d be willing to return to the game as it were… on the opposing side?”

Stacker looked down at Hermann. “I suppose that depends. What’s the situation?”

“I was lied to by a friend, and an attempt was made on all our lives. Now we’re in danger of being framed.” There was a slight shift in Hermann’s posture. It was so tiny, but whatever it was that changed made him look infinitely smaller. “…I’m afraid I don’t know what to do. I need your help. _We_ need your help.”

Stacker regarded him with firm concern. He turned to scrutinise Raleigh and Newt again, to check their body language for anything he should be worried about. Raleigh looked ready for a fight and Newt looked ready to bolt, but they both stayed fast to their positions.

Because Hermann had asked them to. Somehow, Hermann had managed to reign these two wild cards in long enough to be willing to speak with a man who’d done nothing but make their lives harder every chance he got.

“And the two of you are willing to go along with this? No tricks?”

Newt shrugged. “I just wanna get paid, man.”

Raleigh’s stare was a warning. “I’m not letting that guy get away with what he did.”

Stacker pursed his lips and nodded. He finally smiled again and patted Hermann’s shoulder once more. “Then we'd best not let our enemies have any breathing room. Let’s see what we have to work with, shall we?”

~

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone finding this after following me for 'In the Machine', I absolutely PROMISE YOU I've not stopped working on it. My focus is temperamental, and I kinda have to follow its whims rather than try to force anything and burn myself out.
> 
> As always, comments are appreciated.


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